


Autumn Doors

by KatieHavok, Kemara



Series: Doors [4]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Grindelwald supporters, Married Couple, magical beasts, newtina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 09:27:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12679086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieHavok/pseuds/KatieHavok, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kemara/pseuds/Kemara
Summary: Newt and Tina spend the first few months of their married life traveling around America hunting down magical creatures...and Grindelwald supporters.





	1. Stargazing

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the next part of the Doors series! We want to give a huge thanks to Dresupi for letting us use her Autumn/Fall Prompts list from Tumblr. Each chapter is a drabble using one or more of them.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and as always, follow us on Tumblr @kemara24 and @katiehavok for updates

**August 19, 1927**

“What about that one?”

“Where?”   
  
She points, starlight catching on her rings. “Right there – just below the moon.”   
  
“Ah, yes, I see it now.” Newt squints as a few wispy clouds drift past. “So that would be...Castor and Pollux.”   
  
“Yes!” Tina snuggles closer to him on the quilt, leaning her head against his shoulder. The heat of the day has subsided to occasional cool breezes scented with pine and spruce, and the warmth of his body is welcome. “And the Summer Triangle – Altair, Deneb and Vega.” She gives a happy sigh. “This was a great idea. I haven’t looked at the stars in years.”   
  
He chuckles. “I’m surprised you’re so knowledgeable about astronomy living in the middle of the city the way you do.”   
  
“My professor at Ilvermorny was obsessed, but he made it fun, too.” Tina turns her head to smirk at him. “The last month of the term he took his classes on overnight camping trips. We’d bring the best telescope and he’d tell us the stories behind the names of the stars and constellations.”   
  
Newt carefully threads his fingers through her hair while tucking his other arm beneath his head. “So Castor and Pollux?”   
  
Tina hums and reaches for her wine glass set beside his on a nearby stump. “Let me think....they were twin brothers. Their mother was Leda –”   
  
Newt shifts uncomfortably and she presses an absent rosé-scented kiss to his cheek before turning back to the star-strewn expanse above them.   
  
“But they had different fathers – Castor was mortal and Pollux was divine. When Castor was killed in a fight, Pollux asked if he could share his own immortality with his brother so they could stay together. So Zeus made them into the constellation Gemini.”   
  
“Fascinating.” Newt takes the glass from her hand and drains it in one long gulp.

Tina arches an eyebrow in censure before deliberately reclaiming the glass, setting it aside with finality. “They were hatched from eggs, you know,” she tells Newt with false sweetness. “Just like you!”

He has the good grace to flush before she tips him a forgiving smile, going back into the ring of his arms until –

“Look! A shooting star!”

They sit up to share an excited grin as Tina takes his hands. “Quick, make a wish!”

Newt shakes his head while squeezing her fingers. “You should do it since it’s your birthday and I neglected to get you a cake.”

She thinks about it for a moment before leaning in to claim his lips. “I don’t need to make a wish,” she whispers, stroking his chin, “Because I have you so they’ve all come true.”


	2. Knitting

**September 1927**

Tina folds the letter and looks up to find Newt watching her over his eggs and toast.

“Bad news?” He keeps his voice low so the diners at the tables around them can’t hear.

The small restaurant is surprisingly crowded for a town in the middle of nowhere _and_ at the edge of a desert, Tina notes. “No, good news, actually.” She takes a sip of her coffee letting the mug warm her suddenly chilly fingers. “Queenie thinks she might be pregnant.”

Newt grins. “That’s wonderful! I’m sure she and Jacob are thrilled.”

“Yeah. She’s not positive yet, but she said she’s been really hungry lately and umm….You know…” She waves a hand, her cheeks going pink. “And a little sick in the mornings.”

“Ah, yes. That certainly _is_ a symptom in some females,” Newt says in his I’m-a-scientist-so-I-know-these-things tone of voice. “When will she know for sure, did she say?”

Tina unfolds the letter again and scans it. “No, but if it keeps up I’m sure she’ll see a healer. She was in Pukwudgie, you know – she’s good with that sort of thing.”

Newt ignores the hint of comparison between the two sisters. “We should keep our eyes open for a gift for the baby while we’re traveling – now that we’re going to be an aunt and uncle.”

“Aunt Tina. I like the sound of that.” She feels a pang of longing and pushes it firmly aside. They do _not_ need a baby to worry about with all the traveling they’ve been doing since their honeymoon: from the North Woods of Minnesota and Wisconsin and now to Arizona and who knows where next week.

They finish their breakfast and walk around town enjoying the rare downtime. The September heat is brutal, forcing Newt to leave off his blue coat and Tina to don one of the light dresses she last wore in Connecticut.

“When do you think we should go?” she asks, looking askance at the set of pistols one no-maj is wearing.

“Oh, after sundown,” Newt says carelessly. “The desert cools off rapidly, and there’s a full moon tonight. Frank shouldn’t have any trouble finding us. I must say, I’m looking forward to seeing him again.”

“Let's go in here,” she halts them outside a general store. “One thing I’m learning with you – never pass the chance to stock up on necessities.”

The store is large and well-stocked and they each take a basket to go their separate ways. Tina picks up more soap – something spicy she thinks Newt might appreciate – before finding herself in front of a shelf of sewing notions. Skeins of soft yellow yarn catch her eye, then a set of long, slender knitting needles. As if from a distance, she watches her hand reach out and put both in her basket.

Newt raises an eyebrow as she adds her purchases to his but wisely chooses not to comment in the face of her glare.

They return to their hotel room and the case where Newt sets to giving the inhabitants their breakfast. He finds Tina sometime later in the grasslands habitat. She's sitting with her back against a tree, Ladon and Midas curled up on either side of her as she wields the lethal-looking needles.

When Newt joins them, Ladon wakes long enough to sprawl across his lap in a warm heap before dozing off again.

"You're quite good at that," Newt ventures after watching what appears to be a blanket grow by several lines of intricate stitches.

Tina sets the small rectangle of fabric in her lap and stretches her arms with a groan. "Thanks. I haven't done it in years."

He takes both her hands in his, massaging and stretching her cramping fingers.

"Oh, that feels good! My grandma taught me," she says in answer to his unspoken question. "Mama tried, but I never would sit still for her like I would for Oma." She smiles wistfully. "She didn't speak much English, and I didn't speak German but we....understood each other. She called me Esther – I got the impression she thought Porpentina was too ostentatious for a small girl."

"I wish I could've met her," Newt says. "And your parents."

"Me too." Tina secures her stitch so it won't slip out, and starts to fold the blanket up for later.

"Keep it." Newt puts his hands over hers. "For...ours...when we have one. We'll get more yarn for Queenie and Jacob's baby. Just...keep this one. Please?"

Tina bites her lip to stop the tremble. "Okay. Maybe I'll edge it in black. Hufflepuff colors, right?"

He draws her close. "Yes; that's a wonderful idea."


	3. Sweaters, Crisp Air, Blankets, Fog

**Early October 1927**

When he wakes to the smell of freshly-brewed coffee, she is already gone from their bed.

Slightly uneasy, though he's not sure why, Newt puts the kettle on while he dresses then floats his mug beside him up the stairs. He ducks out of the tent, shivering in the crisp mountain air after the humid warmth of the case. Tina is seated on a log in front of the campfire they'd made last night, laughing as they fed each other gooey toasted marshmallows. The rekindled flames illuminate her pensive expression. She has one of his army blankets over her shoulders, and Landon is curled up in her lap like a cat.

A nightmare then. Newt sighs inwardly and makes his way over to them. He's noticed – and hasn't mentioned – how Tina clings to the dragon when she's upset, as a child does a favorite toy.

"You're up early, love."

"Hey." She holds open the blanket so he can sit beside her on the log. "Couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come out here and enjoy the view. I see why they call them ‘smokey.’" She nods at the brilliantly colored hills that stretch before them in waves of red, gold and orange shrouded in morning fog.

He only glances at the spectacle before turning his gaze back to her face. "Yes. Lovely."

Her pale cheeks tint light pink. "I don't think I'll ever get used to you looking at me like that."

"Do you want to?"

She draws him in for a kiss. "Never."

They sit quietly for a time as the birds wake around them before she says, "So, what's on our agenda for the day?"

"I'm hoping we can find the Cherokee village." He points to the west. "Probably that larger valley. They're farmers from what I've read – quite civilized."

Tina nods and pulls the blanket a bit tighter. "As long as they're not Grindelwald supporters, I'll be happy. I'm tired of running into them everywhere we go: Minnesota, Arizona, Florida..."

"That is part of our job," Newt points out gently. "Or, your job, rather. And you were able to contact MACUSA to have them all arrested."

She makes a frustrated noise in the back of her throat. "I know! It's just...I hate that there are so many of them, and so few of us." In her lap, Ladon squeaks as she squeezes a bit too hard. “Sorry! Sorry…” She sighs, visibly composing herself. “Well, I guess we’d better have breakfast before we head out. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us!”

He gives her a hand to rise and only then realizes what she’s wearing with her brown slacks and sturdy boots. “Is that my jumper?” He thinks the cream Aran knit flatters her in a way it never did him, setting off her dark hair and lightly tanned skin to perfection.

“Yep! And you’re not getting it back!” She grins and ducks back into the tent, leaving him to put out the fire and follow her.


	4. Bed & Breakfast, Flannel, Pumpkin Patch, Fall Festival, Farmer’s Market, Fog, Maple Syrup

**Late October 1927**

The pumpkin she’s crouching behind explodes in a mess of orange goo. Tina dives behind a market stall just as another spell slices toward her. From the corner of her eye, she glimpses several still forms among the screaming no-maj revelers fleeing the ruin of what, until five minutes ago, had been a lively Halloween festival on Salem Common.

The back of the stall is solid, and she clambers to her feet, wiping slime and seeds from her face. She spares a second to look around for Newt, but he’s nowhere in view. Pushing aside her worry, she peeks out from her hiding place, wand at the ready. A no-maj man goes down, hit from the side, but Tina disarms his attacker with a neat Expelliarmus.

Something blue darts under a streetlight across the way, and then Newt is by her side, the pop of his apparition lost in the general mayhem.

“Tina! Are you alright?”

She grins at him, the adrenaline from the fight and relief at his safety making her slightly giddy. “Fine. Never use Bombarda on a pumpkin; it doesn’t end well.” She flicks her wand, Celtic carvings warm and _alive_ under her palm, and a dark wizard flies backward into a display of witches hats. _Queenie would never wear anything so outlandish_.

Newt quirks an eyebrow at her state of disarray. “So I see.” His hair is a little wilder than usual, but otherwise, he’s still his slightly ruffled self. He takes care of a second wizard – or witch, in this light it’s hard to tell – with a neat body-bind curse. “We really could use some help here.”

“I know!” Tina swears as a spell opens a cut across her cheek. “We’re outnumbered and I don’t think we’re making a dent. I sent a Patronus to the Salem office but –”

Three dark wizards charge their position then and Newt Apparates them away before she can finish the thought: _Maybe they’ve all gone over_.

Then, they’re too busy to talk, let alone think. The local aurors _do_ show up eventually having had to deal with an attack on their office at the start of the evening.

“Obviously a diversion from the excitement going on here,” the senior auror tells Tina as a healer checks her over. “We floo-called Boston, but they had their own problems. It was very well planned out on multiple fronts.”

“How does that feel, Mrs. Scamander?” The healer helps Tina stand up, and Newt steadies her other side. Her right ankle aches, but nothing she can’t handle. “Much better, thanks.” She turns to the supervisor. “I’ll drop my report off in the morning if that’s okay?”

He nods. “That’s fine. It’s going to take the rest of the night to sort this out.” He looks up at the lightening sky. “And probably all day. Oh, if you two want a late dinner there’s a nice place on Third that stays open all night.”

They limp back to their lodgings in the chilly dawn, kicking up drifts of leaves which merge with the fog rolling in from the harbor. They aren’t drunk exactly, they can both hold their liquor better than that, but comfortably relaxed after several cups of surprisingly strong cider with a dinner of fish stew (for her) and clam chowder (for him) at the recommended restaurant.

Tina leans against Newt’s shoulder, their arms entwined as they walk past the corner candy shop. “The nation’s oldest!” the proprietor crowed proudly earlier that day as they squeezed in with dozens of other tourists for the Halloween festivities.

“I almost forgot I had this.” Tina digs a paper bag from her coat pocket and extracts two pieces of sticky maple syrup taffy. Newt accepts his share, kissing her fingers playfully as she pushes the sweet between his lips.    

“How’s your ankle?” he asks after they’ve chewed in silence for a while, the wide, red front of their bed and breakfast looming at the end of the narrow street.

She shrugs. “I’ll be sore in the morning, but right now it’s not too bad. And how’s your head? You’re gonna have quite the shiner.”

He pats the puffy eyelid gently. “It won’t be the first time. I just didn’t duck quick enough...I never expected him to punch me.”

“He was terrified.” Tina shivers. “All the no-majs were. And that’s just what they wanted.”

Newt unlocks the front door, and they steal up the curving staircase to their second-floor room. The bed has been turned down and a fire is working hard to take the chill from the air.

“Brr…I’m gonna wash up. Cleaning spells are great and all, but not this time.” Tina steps into the bathroom and closes the door behind her.

Left to his own devices, Newt gives his creatures a check, having fed them earlier in the evening. Ladon and Midas greet him at the bottom of the ladder, both eager for attention.

“Are you two behaving?” he asks giving them both pats and sending a gold coin spinning out the workshop door. Both creatures race after it – one running, one flying – leaving him free to do the rounds.

Back in their suite, he casts a warming charm on the sheets just as Tina leaves the bathroom, her face scrubbed shiny and hair damp. He tries to hide his dismay at the sight of her flannel pajamas, but she knows him too well.

“I’m cold!” She clambers onto the big bed and gives a little moan as she slides under the covers. “That’s better…” She props herself up on one elbow, watching him. “Well? Aren’t you going to help warm me up?”

Thus reminded, Newt makes his own toilette in double-time before strengthening the fire with a spell and joining her. Tina immediately wraps around his naked warmth, unabashedly draping her leg over his and notching her head beneath his chin. “Mmmm….much better.”

Newt kisses her forehead while petting the flannel covering her thigh. “I can think of other ways to keep warm,” he murmurs, “but I’m afraid you’re overdressed for it.”

Tina yawns and guides his hand to the neutral territory of her waist, ignoring his tiny whine of protest. “I think I’m too tired for that,” she confesses and kisses his throat. “Remind me when we wake up?”

He nods in agreement before pulling her even closer, pressing his face into her hair. “Yes, of course. Goodnight, love.”


End file.
